Day: January 11, 2018

I’m Neharika Agarwal, a graduate of BITS Pilani, India, holding an CFA & FRM charter. I have worked with Morgan Stanley Capital International for seven years in the quantitative equity research team and later with Absolutdata in marketing analytics domain. An MBA will help me realise the goal of applying my skillset at a leadership level by filling the gaps in my armour.

As one of the official bloggers, I will share my experiences during the MBA on a regular basis. The following lines summarize my journey so far:

Keeping an open mind is quite a desirable state…
A thought process that all leaders I met, advocate…
Happens to be a key mantra shared by our new MBA dean…
“Let’s see” is what he suggests us to believe…

A similar spirit bit me a couple of years ago…
Driven by neophilia or just a willingness to explore…
Landed in Delhi, moving from finance to analytics…
Learning everyday something new, whether industry or statistics…

I loathed the city at the outset for all it represented…
A new city, a new job & no friends, leaving me a tad disoriented…
Against popular advice, I decided to give the city a chance…
And voila! It embraced me with a warm heart and outstretched arms…

A stroke of luck again provided a life altering opportunity…
Accepted by IMD, I was put in a very distinguished community…
Along with change in ‘dateyear’, New year gave me a fresh start…
A chance to press a reset button & reflect on what has driven me so far…

90 already connected by technology came together from different parts…
Camaraderie in the group defied all laws of time and far…
Trips to Ikea, even buying groceries or forging friendships through the week’s course…
Eliminating all traces of homesickness, anxiety or any other such source…

Despite strains of relocation, elation trumped exhaustion in the last few days…
A peek into the what’s in store reaffirmed that alums had already appraised…
Day one, seeing the whole class together suddenly made it so real…
A glance at my seat in the auditorium almost brought a tear…

A transformative experience they say, IMD changes almost one’s third layer of skin…
Now a chance for me to pursue my passion & discover myself without any din…
11 months: a new journey, a new horizon, a new romance I seek…
I already can’t wait to meet a braver, stronger and a more mature version of me…